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Inside Washington (08/16/2012)

WASHINGTON (8/17/12)--Small mortgage servicers would be hardest hit by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposed new rules for mortgage servicing, which were designed for the largest firms. The proposed nine rules were a product of the $25 billion mortgage settlement agreed to earlier this year between regulators and the five largest servicers, including Banking of America, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial (American Banker Aug. 16). But smaller servicers have thinner margins and will have trouble absorbing the cost required to carry out the requirements, observers say. The rules don't distinguish between small and large servicers, said Ed Delgado, a former senior vice president at Wells Fargo and now the chief operating officer at Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, a Carrollton, Texas, specialty servicer. Among the chief concerns for small servicers is the proposed requirement that servicers send borrowers periodic statements on residential loans and advanced notices when rates reset on adjustable rate mortgages. Terry Ryan, the president of Multi Financial Services in Tallahassee, Fla., estimated that requirement could account for 15% of his company's gross income …